Arsenal’s Hat-trick Heroes

Complete List of Arsenal Players to Score Three or More Goals in a Game

Following the Arsenal v Basel Champions League game on 6 December 2016 in which Lucas Perez became the third Arsenal player to score a hat-trick this season, we were asked what is the record for most hat-tricks scored by Arsenal players in a season. And then, what is the record for most number of different players to score a hat-trick in the same season.

Not ones to shirk from very important questions like this we decided to put together a list of all of players to score three or more goals in a competitive match for Arsenal. For the sake of clarity, competitive means Football League, Premier League, FA Cup, Football League Cup, European Cup, Champions League, Cup-winners’ Cup, Fairs Cup and UEFA Cup.

As we all know, football fans love lists so we have two. The first is a season by season breakdown of how many hat-tricks were scored and who the players were, with their individual totals. The second is a list of the top ten players to have scored most hat-tricks. We’ve also included some items of hat-trick trivia.

The most hat-tricks scored by the team in one season is twelve in 1930-31.

The most players to score a hat-trick in one season is five in 1932-33.

The most hat-tricks by a player in one season is seven by Jack Lambert in 1930-31 and Ted Drake in 1934-35.

Ian Wright and Emmanuel Adebayor have both scored hat-tricks against the same team home and away in the same season in the league. Wright did this against Southampton in 1991-92; his second hat-trick coming on the last day of the season was the last hat-trick ever scored in the old First Division. Adebayor repeated the feat against Derby in 2007-08 which made him the first player ever to do this in the Premier League.

Adebayor’s three goals at Pride Park also made him the only Arsenal player to come off the bench and score a hat-trick.

Doug Lishman scored a hat-trick in each of three consecutive home games in 1951-52.

Ian Wright scored a hat-trick in every one of seven consecutive seasons, the only Arsenal player to do so.

In the FA Cup second qualifying round game against City Ramblers on 29 October 1892, three Arsenal players scored hat-tricks – James Henderson, Arthur Elliott and Charles Booth. Not sure who claimed the ball!

21 players have scored four or more goals in a game. Ted Drake has done this six times. Two players – Jack Lambert and Tony Woodcock – have scored five in one game whilst Ted Drake famously scored seven goals against Aston Villa on 14 December 1935.

David Halliday’s only hat-trick was his four goal haul in the 6-6 draw against Leicester five days before the FA Cup final. This posed a dilemma for Herbert Chapman as Halliday only played in this game to give Jack Lambert a rest. Unfortunately for Halliday, Lambert was chosen to play in the final.

Wartime

During the First and Second World Wars, first class football was suspended and regional leagues were implemented. For completeness, we’ve included a list of all of the players that scored hat-tricks during these two periods. If you’ve ever looked at the results of these games, especially during the Second World War, you can see that there were many strange results. This was due to most players being on national service and teams having to rely on guest players to make up the numbers.

Fred Pagnam was a guest from Liverpool and scored five in one game. He joined Arsenal permanently after the war. Arthur Dominy and Jimmy Chipperfield were guests from Southampton and Luton Clarence respectively.

Leslie Compton was a full back who played a number of games at centre-forward during the war. He scored five in one game and TEN against Clapton Orient on 8 February 1941 which is the most goals scored by an Arsenal player in one game at any level.

Reg Lewis who scored a colossal 19 hat-tricks during WW2, twice scored five in a game.

Stan Mortenson was a guest from Blackpool. He is most well known for scoring a hat-trick for Blackpool in the 1953 “Matthews” FA Cup final.